Erdogan is furious. What is going on between Europe and Turkey?

This weekend relations between Turkey and some countries of the European Union have deteriorated significantly. Pro-Head tried to figure out why this was happening and what caused the real, if not diplomatic, war, at least “military clashes” at the diplomatic level.

Prehistory

Turkey longed for the European Union, but it was not taken there. They did not even allow visa-free travel. Since the days of Mustafa Kemal, the military has been the guarantor of democracy in this country. Prior to Recep Erdogan, the current president of Turkey, virtually all of its leaders were retired military men. Erdogan is a stranger to them. He had no choice but to turn to another quite large and influential part of the electorate – the Islamists, let’s say so, of varying degrees of moderation. He tried to lean on them. The military also tried to resist this and on the night of July 15 to July 16, 2016 they made a coup. The coup turned out to be unsuccessful and Erdogan started real repressions. The EU did not like this, they tried to put pressure on the president of Turkey. An attempt wasn’t successful. The problems between the European Union and the Turkish Republic began to grow and this weekend resulted in an open international conflict.

Germany

In Germany, there are a lot of ethnic Turks and the government and the chancellor have to reckon with this fact. However, there are also strong traditions of decentralization – cities and lands have the independent right to decide which foreign politicians they want or do not want to see. This time, they did not want to see three Turkish ministers – Justice, Economy and Foreign Affairs, who had to address their compatriots in Gaggenau, Cologne and Hamburg. And although Berlin stressed that he had nothing to do with it, the meetings broke down. Erdogan was indignant and compared the current actions of the German authorities with the practice of the times of National Socialism, accused Germany of the complete absence of democracy and the support of terrorism in the person of Kurdish separatists.

Netherlands

But then the Dutch made a demarche to the Turks. The authorities, now central, banned the entry of a delegation led by the Turkish foreign minister, and another minister, youth affairs and social policy, which tried to enter the Netherlands by car from countries deported. Erdogan again outraged and called the Dutch “fascists”, after which he “hit” all over Europe, saying that it was the governments of the countries of this continent that sponsored international terrorism.

Denmark

This northern country did not wait until the representatives of Turkey would come into its territory and had canceled the visit of the same Foreign Minister of the Turkish Republic in advance. However, not in a harsh form. “Under normal circumstances, it would be nice to welcome the Prime Minister of Turkey,” said Danish Prime Minister Lars Lecke Rasmussen. According to him, the visit was not canceled, but simply postponed.

Why are these visits so important to Erdogan?

The fact is that in Turkey, a referendum is coming, which should give Erdogan enormous powers. In essence, the result should be the transformation of Turkey from the parliamentary-presidential republic into a presidential-parliamentary one. The referendum is held, it can be said, “under Erdogan” and every voice is important to him, including the voices of Turks who live in Europe, but have dual citizenship. In addition, the Turkish diaspora is very authoritative and has a huge impact on the people of Turkey.

What does Erdogan counterpose to political demarches?

In addition to loud speeches and accusations, Erdogan was able to organize unrest not only in Turkey itself, but also in the Netherlands. However, especially loud riots did not happen. People picketed consulates, ripped off the flags of countries … In Holland, they were quickly dispersed by the police, in Germany it was generally without rallies. The fact is that the migration legislation of these countries is rather rigid and especially violent can be deported within 48 hours. In the end, Erdogan threatened to take revenge on both countries, but after the referendum.

Russia

The Russian Federation is happy with such relations between Turkey and the EU. Erdogan, as in this, and last year did quite a lot to improve relations with Russia. Nevertheless, Russian diplomats should not relax, the Turks won’t turn to the direction of the northern neighbor so fast, as it may seem. In addition, the Crimean Tatar diaspora is quite influential in Turkey, which supports its fellow tribesmen suffering from Russian power in the Crimea. The other day Turkey refused to accept ferries from the Crimea, which otherwise can not be called a demarche.

European Union

The European Union, or rather the European officials have already called for a “reconciliation” with Turkey. Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland has already said: “The current situation is now damaging to diplomacy and democracy, and we can not allow it to worsen,” and added that: “All public meetings and political campaigns held in Council member states Europe should be conducted in accordance with national legislation